Wally's Four Failures At Proposal & One Success
by ALittleBitUnlucky
Summary: Wally has the tendency to be a massive idiot. The stupid velvet box isn't helping. Flinx, rated T for swearing and mentions of sex.
1. Prologue

**A/N: All right, new story :D I got this idea off a bandom fanfiction I read. I, personally, like watching Kid Flash struggle. This story is made up of six chapters. I'll upload the other chapters throughout this week. Each chapter is relatively short, but please don't eat me. If you ever see any mistakes or such, point them out, I'd be really grateful. Thanks, read and review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Teen Titans.**

*~TT~*

A couple of days after Kid Flash picks up Jinx (quite literally, too, her ridiculous amount of bags hanging off one arm and her wrapped in the other; her grip was almost nightmarishly tight around his neck before he set off running to his little apartment. She would tell him later, tweaking at her ponytails, that _I understand convenience and shit, Flash, but for fuck's sake, next time we'll flag a cab or rent a car_), they go to the nearby Panda Express, dressed in civilian clothes, no less, and slide into a booth to devour sesame chicken. They talk in between colossal bites. They enjoy each other's company for more than either of them feel they have the right to.

In the couple of days in which Jinx moved into Flash's apartment, Jinx learned a bit more on the mechanics of being a hero , they'd accustomed to each other's music taste and personal space, awkwardness between them melted as snow froze over Breeze City and they had promoted each other to first name- that is to say,_ real _name- basis.

When the fortune cookies arrive, Jaya is thrilled. She dictates five minutes of her love of fortune cookies and proceeds to order several more trays of them. She's unusually enthusiastic as she cracks them open with something just off the side of flagrant disregard and reads the fortunes aloud, tacking _in bed _to the end of each. Wally gazes at her, eating the cookies and soon cracks out that the newfound freedom has just truly registered with her. Without her old teammates to weigh her down, she has a whole new future ahead of her – the chance to be great.

He didn't doubt she would be, somehow.

"Aren't you going to open one?" she says, leaning over the table. There is a clunk as Wally's jacket slides a bit on her frame. On the way, her shivering prompted Wally to sheath her with it. She still needs to get used to the cold; Breeze City gets a lot colder than Jump City when it edges towards this time of year. Those oddly coloured eyes of her are practically sparkling. Her wild pink hair is loose, falling freely past her shoulders and curling spectacularly around the angles of her pink-tinged face, and is a beacon of radiance.

Smirking, Wally grabs a fortune cookie at random and crushes it, eating the cookie and unfurling the strip of paper and reads it. Grin widening, he slides the paper carefully across to Jaya. She reads it out loud and, _you will soon begin a new relationship. _Her cheeks turn pinker but she meets his eyes carefully, and they darken somewhat against each other. A nimble finger rests on the paper and slides it back to its rightful owner.

It turns out soon is seven months, five days and two hours, a couple of months after what the guys refer to as the Titan Gang-Bang at the Brotherhood of Evil, but it's still cool. Who's counting, right? Not Jaya or Wally, that's for sure.

They're both ready to Say It about a month in. Hell, Jaya later tells him she thought she was ready to Say It about a _week _in but didn't because how awkward would that be.

Wally takes Jaya out to a Chinese restaurant in Jump City for her birthday. He had carefully asked around about good Chinese food, and received a recommendation from a suggestively grinning Beast Boy, Cyborg and Robin (and fuck them, seriously, like this wasn't awkward enough).

Wally's fortune tells him to overcome his fears and he hates Asian rituals forever. He eats the cookie and averts his eyes, cheeks warm and feels like a girl. "I love you," he says, uncharacteristically soft but characteristically quick, raising his eyes to meet hers.

She smiles, says "And I love you," with equally soft assuredness. Then she stifles a laugh and a wide grin threatens to stretch her lips ridiculously wide even as she fights it. It's Wally's favourite Jaya smile and he can't recall why he was afraid to Say It. She smiles that smile and pushes her fortune across the table. He leans over and reads: _You're ready to take the next step._

Two and a half years later, when they've been newly relocated to Breeze City as a Titans base, he goes for a walk. And, rather unusually, he actually walks. At least on the way back. He ponders to himself, running his hand through his hair and grinding his teeth. His palms are sweating, and little black specks dot them from his cradling the velvet box for too long. The sun has gone down and the sky is thick with dark clouds, a stark change from the afternoon brightness and he's still thinking slowly. He can't figure out how to do this.

Wally has a tendency to be somewhat of a massive idiot.

*~TT~*


	2. The First

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or it's characters, which is great because I bend the characters and make things sappy and I can be really mean.**

*~TT~*

1.

The new rooms feel unfamiliar. All Titan Towers are set up in somewhat the same way, really, but Wally was just getting used to the Jump City Tower room he shared temporarily with Hot Spot, Aqualad and Speedy. Now the original Teen Titans have finally split everyone into various groups across the globe.

Jaya and Toni have gone shopping as Jinx and Argent. Wally waits, lying flat on his back on Jaya's bed. The space above the headboard is papered with Jaya's sketches and paintings and a couple of photographs. While the majority of sketches are no longer unicorns, several unicorn sketches have prime positions in the collage.

Wally's memorised the whole room at this point, the band posters, the amount of nail polish bottles and eyeliner on the vanity table, the photographs lining the edge of the mirror, the exact corners of the walls and their shade, the exact texture of the bedsheets – it's gotten boring. How long does it take to buy some clothes?

He hears the door open and Jaya dropping the bags on the floor. She hurries into the bathroom before he even looks at her properly, without acknowledging him; he only catches sight of the hem of her skirt and her left boot (both new, it appears) before she shuts the door behind her. _Seriously, _he thinks incredulously as the shower starts.

It _has _to be tonight. This stupid bulky box has been sitting in his pocket for almost a fortnight, mocking him. The shower shuts off after half an hour but then there's only silence. Christ. She's probably admiring herself in the mirror (couples share bad habits, it turns out) or something. Sighing, he slides off the sheets and heads towards the bathroom. He hovers outside before lowering himself to one knee, the box sitting open in one hand. Thanks, everyone, for never telling him how fucking uncomfortable this is.

"All right, look," says Wally, and hears the sound of something clicking against the counter. A hair brush, probably. Jaya has always been obsessed with her hair. "Don't open the door, don't come out and don't say anything, this'll be-I don't think I really have the nerve to do anything else right now, which is actually surprising. Just. It'll be easier to do it like this."

Pausing to lick his lips, he gathers the last of his nerve. "Okay, I had a long speech down but, fuck it, I can't remember now. Well. I just. Okay, so I love you, I've loved you for the longest time, and you love me, too. There's no reason why we shouldn't be together. And, Jesus, we've been together for two and a half years now. Maybe, uh, maybe it's too soon, but I've never loved anyone like I've loved you. You're so beautiful and so intelligent and I love everything about you. Like, in the mornings, when you wake up and your hair is a mess and you're still sleepy. I know you hate how you look in the mornings but I think it's really cute." _Shit, does that sound off-topic?_ He ploughs on nonetheless. "You're the only person I want to see when I go to sleep and the only person I want to wake up to, every morning for the rest of my life. Jinx, Jayati, will you marry me?"

The good news is that it wasn't quite as horrible as he thought it would be.

The bad news is Toni Monetti opens the door.

Wally is up on his feet in a flash, backing away quickly, stumbling and slamming backwards into the wall.

A beam is painted on Toni's face and she's teary. Come on, now, his speech wasn't that bad.

"You're proposing!" she squeals with all the delight of a child on Christmas morning.

"Not to you, though- I mean, uh, why-what are you doing here?"

"I think Jaya and I mixed up our room numbers," she says, jubilantly breathless.

"Great. Just great." He slides to the floor, staring hard at Toni for one long, tired moment. "Fuck my life."

Toni's practically bouncing, wiping away tears. "Oh, is this the ring? Wally, it's beautiful! This is so lovely. Oh, Wally, could I please, please be bridesmaid?"

Looking at her ridiculously happy face, his lips tug up in a smile in spite of himself and he feels a growing fondness for the quirky five foot tall New Zealander. "Yeah, fine."

Toni's scream of glee echoes around the Tower.

*~TT~*

**A/N: I was rather pleased with this chapter. Argent is one of my favourite characters, and Argent fanfic is just hilarious. Thanks for reading. Please review!**


	3. The Second

**A/N: Hello. I'd like to thank Collsy100 for her lovely reviews :3 This chapter contains sex (and you have no idea how long I took to try and figure out a nice way to phrase that before I decided to just be blunt). Just a heads-up for the innocent.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or any of its many wonderful characters.**

*~TT~*

2.

"Jesus _fuck _you feel good," Jaya breathes into the curve of Wally's neck. She claims a fetish for his collarbones and now she proves it, nibbling and sucking and licking and nestling. Wally's not one to complain, especially with her naked hips moving tight and purposeful against his. "You're never allowed to go visit _anyone _ever again. I miss you too much."

"I'll be sure to send out the memo," he smirks into her hair and lifts her chin to kiss her. He had barely sped into her room to say hello when a waiting Jaya had sprung on him and he had a helping of her tongue down his throat. He's missed this feeling, her lying warm on top of him, smelling like flowers and vanilla, the flash of her skin on his and the shock of her thin but so-soft lips and the taste of her dark chocolate-and-cherry lip gloss.

It's been a _week. _Just _one._

Wally is so, so almost disgustingly in love.

Jaya, on the other hand, is so, so (no almost to this one) mindnumbingly _hot._

"Jaybird, hey," he says suddenly.

"Mmm?" she replies against his collarbones.

"Hey, listen to me." He tugs at her thick mane of bright hair and she looks up, finally, but her pupils are wide with arousal and she keeps pushing her hips towards his.

"Like I've been, uh, I've been thinking. All week, actually, I was thinking about how- Jaya, _fuck_," he cuts off as Jaya's long fingers wrap around his length and she grins wickedly against his neck. His timing seriously _sucks._ For a moment he wonders whether he should abandon the attempts but instead rolls over so that she's trapped under him. "Jesus. Look. I'm serious, here."

She looks like she's resisting the urge to either pout or roll her eyes at him. Her hips continue move lazily, though her hands release him as she crosses her arms. "This was a nice moment. You always have to ruin them. What is it, Wallace?"

"I was thinking. Maybe we could. Uh. We've been. We should. Take the next step, y'know? Move to the next level."

She looks at him and it takes a couple of seconds for her clouded eyes to clear. They brighten and her lips tug upwards as her hips still. "Really? I was kind of thinking that, too."

"What?" his eyebrows lift an impossible amount, jaw dropping, and really, this is _weird. _She could not be serious.

"Yeah." She pecks him on the lips and slides out from underneath him, her dance-like steps leading her to her drawers to rummage through them. Wally is suitably confused. He always figure that Jaya would rather be proposed to than propose. Did he wait so long that she got pissed and did it herself? It's crazy but plausible, he thinks. How embarrassing is this going to be, though, when it gets out that his _girlfriend _proposed to _him? _Though it wouldn't really matter as long as they were engaged, he figures, it would still be somewhat mortifying. He debates on whether he should just grab the goddamn ring and get down on one knee before she does anything.

Jaya straightens up and tosses something at him. He catches it, a built-in reflex, as she quickly leaps back onto the bed, flipping smartly in the air and landing on her back, feet flat on the bed and set apart apart, her wrists crossed above her head. Brow furrowed, he looks at the undoubtedly metallic thing in his hands and _oh._

Weaved between his fingers, gleaming bright silver even in the dimmed light, is a pair of silver handcuffs.

*~TT~*

**God bless kinky!Jinx. Please review!**


	4. The Third

**A/N: Aw, damn, sorry for taking so long with this chapter. I've been overseas and apart from the internet being awful and not working, my laptop messed up for a short while. I admit that I only remembered I hadn't updated this after a couple of days even when my internet and laptop was fine. I apologise again for having the tendency to be a massive idiot. I hope you will all forgive me and do me the pleasure of reading and reviewing. I refer to the characters by their hero names in this because I thought that they would if they were on-duty.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or it's characters.**

***~TT~***

3.

Valentine's Day stumbles in and he _has _to take the opportunity, even if it seems a bit on the cheesy side.

It takes twenty minutes to get everything done, which is like a _year _for Kid Flash. But he finishes everything and double (and triple and quadruple and quintuple and so on) checks it's all there. He takes dish duty on Jaya's behalf for the day, though he hopes that if she accepts the whole day will be filled with something a lot more interesting than dishes.

The sun is bright through the Tower's large windows, soaking them in its warmth. Jinx, sticking to her predictable cat-like behaviour, stays curled up in her room to read in sunlight. Flash thinks he should have made plans with her earlier and guesses she's probably annoyed at him for doing nothing on Valentines' Day. But she ranted so _long _on how Valentines' Day was consumerist bullshit. Why couldn't girls just make their meanings clear?

Jericho and Herald are over at Titans North, Jericho to see Kole and Herald to play unwilling chaperone by helping Jericho go over. They left early and plan to come back later in the afternoon, at Herald's insistence. Argent and Hot Spot are splayed out on the couch, Hot Spot lying in Argent's lap with an expression of bliss as she strokes the short hairs on his head and employs her amazing massage technique on his temples. Hot Spot's been complaining about a headache for a couple of days for this. Argent somewhat laughingly gave in to shut him up.

His possibly imaginary headache apparently is not painful enough to keep him quiet or not notice as Flash speeds through the lounge on his way up to Jinx's room.

"Where're you going, Kid?" he smirks.

Irritated, Flash has to retrace his steps and endure the storm. Which, in other words, means Argent predictably freaks out at the roses and chocolate and card. After they get her to relax a bit, Flash sighs. "I thought I could propose on Valentines'. Look." He lifts the card and flips to the last page, where the ring is taped below the words "_Love is the little things. Love is this little ring. Will you marry me?_"

"Oh, that's so _sweet, _Wally!" Argent positively melts.

"Yeah, _Wally, _that's so _sweet!_" Hot Spot chimes in, barely stifling his sniggers.

"You shut up," Argent turns on him, eyes narrowed, and he does. "At least he gets up and gets the courage to propose to her. Ask me for my magic fingers, why don't you, and never bother to even think about long-term commitment!"

"I didn't-"

"Are you a commitment-phobe, Mr. Crockett?"

"Oh, c'mon, Toni, I was just-"

"I know exactly what you were doing, Isaiah Crockett, now get off my lap. I need to photograph this."

Flash finds the camera for Argent because he just wants this over with and Argent is drawing it out long enough for Hot Spot to find more things to mock him about. In a minute he's standing outside Jinx's door. Hot Spot and Argent are at the end of corridor, where they can see him but Jinx will surely not be able to see them.

He knocks and Jinx is quick to open the door. Her eyes widen at the amount of red suddenly thrust in front of her eyes. Extending them towards her, he clears his throat. "Happy Valentines' Day."

"Well. Thank you," she smiles his favourite smile as she takes the roses first. She inhales deeply and looks back at him. His expression seems to be too intense or something of the sort because she looks slightly confused.

"Um, the card," he manages and ignores Hot Spot and Argent, who he can see out of the corner of his eye exchanging obnoxiously knowing grins.

"Oh." She tugs it free and reads, "What is happiness?"

Opening it, she continues,

"Happiness is lying in bed and joking with you. Happiness is you making me dance to The Sounds or s and realising I don't mind," flip, "Happiness is turning in the middle of the worst villain battle and seeing you have my back. Happiness is knowing we'll always have each other's backs," flip again, "Happiness is making up after our worst fights. Happiness is what I feel every day when I'm with you. Happiness is loving you."

Jinx looks up and her eyes are soft, and her voice is soft, too, "This is really cheesy."

"I know." He shrugged, waiting for it.

"It's also very sweet. Wally…" She begins to tiptoe to kiss him but he's taken a quick step back before she gets very far.

"The last bit," he says quickly.

She smiles and rolls her eyes, slightly exasperated. "What is love?" she begins and then there's someone on Flash's foot.

"Jesus _Christ, _Herald!" he groans, more from annoyance than anything; he's fast enough to get Herald off his foot before it actually hurts.

"Sorry, man," he says as Jericho also makes himself shown. The portal vanishes and there's silence. Jericho is pink and holding a mound of Valentine cards.

"Why are you back so early?" Argent practically whines as she skips down the corridor, camera and Hot Spot both gone.

"Well, Kole and Jericho were out together and me and Red Star tagged along because it's Valentines' Day, we're alone, and the best thing to do when you're alone on Valentines' Day is bother your happy couple friends," shrugged Herald. "Kole wasn't too well to begin with, but she insisted on going out with Jericho no matter what he said. Well. Not said, but you get my point. Then we were mobbed by Jericho fangirls. Red Star had to hold them back for me to get us to Titan North Tower. We decided Kole should rest home and decided it was time for two of us to come back."

"Jericho's popular," snorts Jinx.

"Quite a lot of fan mail you have there, Joey," Argent supplies.

Jericho looks at his hands and quickly drops the cards, turning pinker. He shakes his head, rubbing at his face before signing, _I didn't know so many people there liked me. It is insane._

"I get what you're talking about, Jericho," Flash grins sympathy. "I get mobbed by girls all the time. They can't keep their hands off me." Everyone snorts and Hot Spot picks that moment to run back up.

"Dr. Terminal is terrorising town," he announces, already firing up.

"Let's go!" Argent says.

Jinx drops her stuff as Herald opens a portal and they begin rushing in.

"Jinx, my card-" Flash says, gripping at her wrist.

"Forget the card, Flash, tell me what is says later!"

"Just look at it," he thrusts it into her hands.

She opens it and tuts loudly. "This is one of Jericho's cards, Wally!" It glows pink as it falls in tatters. Flash looks aghast as he gazes at the mound of cards hers has disappeared into.

"It doesn't matter, come _on,_" Jinx says earnestly before disappearing into the portal.

"Flash?" Herald asks, eyebrows raising

"Yeah," he replies idly as he quickly locates his card and rips the ring off it, sliding it into his pocket and making sure it's secure. "Yeah, let's go," and he leaps in as well.

Dr. Terminal was going to get an ass-kicking of a lifetime.

*~TT~*


	5. The Fourth

**A/N: God bless you guys for the reviews. I found myself ridiculous amounts of free today (I went for a walk, for cryin' out loud) and thankfully I can post XD This is the second-last instalment for this story so hang on.**

**For anyone who isn't sure, Mal is The Herald, Isaiah is Hot Spot and Jericho is. Well, Jericho. I'm zipping a bit from one of my favourite Flinxes (Jinxed for Life, which you should totally check out) that says Jericho used to smoke weed because he's sweet but it's plausible and I needed something to start the chapter. But yeah, my love for Jericho will forever hold no bounds. All right, carry on!**

***~TT~***

4.

_They think I'm still smoking._

"Media sucks, man."

"Yeah. Robin's gonna explode and talk about bad publicity."

_I mean, they're just guessing that I smoke but if I gets out I actually did before, it would be hell._

"Yeah."

"Help. Me."

It's an off-duty Saturday, and the boys have taken over the lounge. After an insane, superpower wrestle for the couch, they've all decided to settle for the floor. Wally has flipped to lie flat on his face after officially quitting the conversation.

He looks up. The others are sprawled out, looking all kinds of obnoxious as they smirk at him.

"Help you what?" Isaiah asks innocently.

"I'm serious, you dick. Every time I try it fails. It's ridiculous. I'm Wally West; I don't fail this much at _anything._" Wally West looks disbelieving at his own words.

_Looks like the Speedster has finally been slowed._

"Look, man, it doesn't have to be an event or anything," says Mal as Wally glares at Jericho.

"Yeah, what makes it special is how her eyes'll look when she says yes. How happy you'll both be. You don't need to make the proposal an event because the _wedding _will be the event. My girlfriend will go crazy and do all the planning for you, so it'll be great," says Isaiah.

"You really think she'll say yes?" Wally sighs.

They all blink at him and Jericho signs: _You really are an idiot._

"Fine, whatever, if you're so good, _Mr Crockett,_ how would you propose to Toni?" Wally says.

"Woah, dude, me and Toni are not ready to be married," he grimaces.

"Just pretend, you ass."

"Fine. You owe me, big time. Give me the ring," grumbles Isaiah. "Who's going to be Argent?"

"Jericho has the most feminine hands," Mal supplies helpfully and Jericho throws him a dirty look but sighs noiselessly as he throws himself onto the couch.

Scowling, Isaiah lowers himself to one knee in front of him and grabs one of those famously feminine hands. "Okay, Jericho, Jaya, Toni, whoever you're supposed to be in this fucked-up roleplay…" he glares at Wally, who grins back broadly.

"I've known you for a relatively long time. And. Okay, sure, sometimes it feels like a hell lot longer."

The others chuckle.

"But sometimes," he continues, his voice softer, "it feels like it could never be enough."

Jericho seems on the brink of dissolving into very girly, very silent giggles but he composes himself quickly as Isaiah continues, "And I know things haven't been perfect. Sometimes they're ridiculously far from it. But things are never going to be perfect," he throws a pointed look at Wally, "but there's no one else I want to live through all the imperfections but you."

Holy Jesus, who knew he could do this professionally?

"So," he pulls the ring from his pocket and slides it over a thin finger, "will you marry me?"

"Oh my _God,_ Isaiah Crockett!" shrieks Jaya from the doorway. "You're asking Toni to marry you? Oh my God, this is so brilliant, are you practising on them? Jericho's hands are feminine but you should try on an actual girl, you can do me next!"

Jericho throws his hands in the air as Wally grimaces and Mal says, "The last bit is the worst thing you can hear from your girlfriend, ever, in the world."

"I can think of worse," Wally mumbles to himself.

"Oh, is that the ring? Let me see!" Jaya exclaims as she catches sight of it on Jericho's ring finger.

"No!" they all shout at once and Isaiah grabs it.

"It's not the actual ring, it's, uh, it's my ring. We're just using it to, uh."

"Practise," finishes Mal as Isaiah forces the ring onto his finger. It gets all the way to his middle knuckle before he gives up.

Jaya's skipped forward to lean against the back of the couch. Now she stares at his hands. "That totally doesn't fit you, dude."

"Yeah, because he usually wears it on his pinkie," Wally says quickly. "Right, guys?" Vigorous nodding from Jericho and some sort of agreeing noise from Mal. "You're really unobservant, Jaybird."

"Yeah," Isaiah looks mildly displeased and purses his lips but jams the ring onto his pinkie.

Jaya smirks as she heads to the fridge, "That's sort of really gay, man."

"Yeah, Isaiah, it's really gay," Mal grins widely and Isaiah looks murderous.

"Anyway, congrats, man. It'll be great," Jaya says as she sticks popcorn into the microwave.

Grumbling insults under his breath at the guys, Isaiah gets up and stalks out.

"Isn't that awesome?" sighs Jaya. She watches the bag inflate as the corn pops.

"Yeah, marriage is…pretty sweet."

Mal and Jericho roll their eyes at him and stare at him, exasperated.

"I can't believe some guys still get down one knee, though. Talk about old-fashioned. I mean, if a guy did that to me, I'd be like, stand the fuck up and tell it to my face, you know what I mean?"

Wally stares hard at her head and hopes that his thoughts can be transferred through the newfound thickness of her skull. Mal and Jericho barely stifle their laughter. Jaya glances up, "Of course, I'd marry you if you so much as _looked _at me the right way, but whatever." She turns back to her popcorn but not before he sees the blush blooming up her cheeks.

The guys throw him pointed looks, complete with told-you-so jackass smirks, that Wally doesn't think he needs but probably deserves. When Jaya leaves with a bowl of buttery popcorn to watch movies in the TV room with Toni and the other guys finally let their laughter loose, he leans back against the couch.

Wally has the tendency to be somewhat of a massive idiot.

***~TT~***


	6. The Last

**A/N: Last chapter! I thought about holding out for the last chapter but then that takes some forms of control and since I lack that so...Enjoy this last chapter of Wally's Four Failures at Proposal & One Success (fun fact: the title underwent so many changes because the original one was too long to be written in full), R&R!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or its characters; I just make them do weird things and ship them with enthusiasm that borders of hysteria.**

***~TT~***

5.

"So, today's special, huh?" Except for his stupid words, of course.

"Really?" she laughs and reaches past the fondue to squeeze his hand. "I hadn't noticed. I thought you took me out to swanky restaurants every night."

"I would if you didn't insist on going to Subway all the time," he retorts.

"I didn't see you protesting when I was shoving two foot-longs down my throat."

"That was meant to be provoking," Wally grinned, "and I didn't see you protesting later that night."

"Just for you, baby," she grins back and brushes hair out of her fuchsia eyes. It's tamed somewhat from her efforts, curling in a loose ponytail around her neck. The dress is new, a gift from Toni that Jaya says she never really got the chance to wear.

Wally is glad of how easy it is to talk to her because if he is this nervous when he has easy-going conversation, what the hell would happen if this was still their awkward first conversation? They've grown up some since their first meeting. They've both edged past 18. Jaya's planning on going to the nearby art school, the only one of the Titans to do something apart from be a hero so far. She promises that she will still be Jinx, just one that could draw better.

She lifts herself hallway out of her seat and brings her mouth to his ear, whispering low and liquid, "Happy anniversary."

He swallows and inflicts a mental glare at his crotch; getting a hard-on in the middle of a proposal was not part of his plan. "Happy anniversary," he replies, clearing his throat.

"Did I tell you about my trip out with the Titans?" she says as she settles back in her seat.

"Uh…yeah, no," he says, bright blue eyes brighter with tense desperation, watching for the waitress. She approaches their table with a small silver tray bearing nothing but two fortune cookies and he's suddenly terrified. What if they screwed it up, it would be so easy to screw up, what if they got it out of order and he gets hers and she gets his, and-

"-so this crazy villain-guy," and Jaya's still talking, "he's like terrorising this _comic book store _to ridiculous amounts so the Titans go after him. And when they arrive, he actually like falls to his knees and bows before them. And now we're all like super confused and he tries to kiss Robin's _shoes _and Robin is like 'back the fuck off'! Then he sees me and Star and Rae, and he asks us to sign his _ass. _Not even his jeans but, like, his ass and, like, he was ready to take it off and everything. I mean his jeans, not his ass, though how wicked would it be if you could just take off your ass?"

Wally is never going to get married.

The waitress smiles brightly at him, too brightly, too _mischievously, _and sets down the tray. She places one pointy folded cookie deliberately in front of him and the other just as deliberately in front of Jaya, lifting her hand with a flourish and turns away with a flutter of her skirt.

"-So finally they get him to calm the fuck down and Raven is actually somewhat flattered, I think, because everyone always hits only on Star, though everyone's annoyed at this point. Like, it's a nice Friday afternoon and no one wants to be pulled away from a comfy tower to deal with a crazed fanboy slash villain-"

Wally rips open his cookie, throwing the pieces into his mouth and almost choking as he reads his fortune because this was _not _in the plain.

It reads, _Good luck! _With a fucking _smiley face._

He musters a weak annoyance because right now he really needs the luck and the smiley face is punctuated with a tiny heart and it's nice. This restaurant is filled with nice people as well as nice food, it seems, and Wally works on the side of nice guys; he can appreciate.

"And Gar and Vic are laughing, really disbelieving like, and Robin says-"

"Aren't you going to eat your cookie?" interrupts Wally.

She looks down with a mildly surprised expression. "Oh, yeah," she says, picking it up and breaking it open, the scrap of white fluttering to the table as she throws the cookie into her mouth. She pauses as if to savour the goodness, swallows and continues, "Right, so Robin says, 'Well, look, you're underage, kid, but this is bordering on breaking the law for bizarre reasons, so how about'-"

"Aren't you gonna read your fortune?"

Jaya blinks and falters, hands lowering. "Are you even listening to me?"

"Yeah, of course I am, yeah, but you're always obsessed with your fortune. Aren't you going to read it?"

She studies him in the slow, calculated way that would make anyone fidget. He curses Jericho for letting her learn it from him.

"I think…no."

"…What?"

She picks up the fortune without looking at it, folding it nimbly and accurately in half and dropping it on the table. "Not gonna read it."

"But why not?"

Seriously. Never. Getting married. _EVER._

"Because I don't worry about the future anymore," she declares.

He considers chewing his tongue off and stabbing himself in the eyes with the candle holder (at the same time, too, because he could totally do it) but decides against it. His teeth might be gritted as he forces out, "Why not?"

"Because," she says softly, smiling sweetly, "I see it every time I look into your eyes."

…Well. That's unusually sappy and unusually sweet for Jaya and he feels heat creeping up his neck and threatening to gather in his eyes. Blinking quickly, he shakes his head in defeat and resists the urge to drop his head down on the table.

"God, Jaybird, just read it."

The momentary hurt in her eyes pains his more than he would care to admit and on top of guilt, he worries that she'll go into defiant mode and storm out but surprising maybe the both of them, her pale hand reaches across the table and picks up the fortune. Her dextrous fingers unfold it and those cat-like paisley eyes scan the text for the briefest instant, too brief for him to prepare, and then she looks up. Her lips are parted and quirk up at the edges and her eyes are wide with shock and relief and glisten with the beginning of tears and Wally realises that Isaiah was right. The look on her face is worth more than anything he has ever had or ever will and it is the knowledge of it that fills him with something beyond happy and allows him to hoist a cocky smirk on his face, even as it wavers with his ever-present worry and his teeth bite down on his lips. Jaya's grip on the paper tightens before it slips through her fingers and gently falls to the table and every instant is tense and too long for him to take.

A nimble finger rests on it and slides it back across the mahogany surface of the table.

"Yes."

**Fin.**


End file.
